Attention Restoration Theory argues that natural objects such as trees and flowers have psychological restoration effects. However, relevant studies have been mostly based on survey methods, and few of them suggest guidelines for restoration environments. This study, therefore, aims to verify the restorative effect of natural objects using eye-tracking methods and a survey regarding visual aesthetics, complexity, and the Perceived Restorativeness Scale, as well 25 various images divided into 4 types: natural scene and close view, natural scene and distant view, built scene and close view, and built scene and distant view. The analysis showed that natural scenes had a stronger positive restorative effect compared to built scenes regardless of differences in the distance. In terms of the overall landscape composition, visual characteristics such as visual aesthetics and complexity had a statistically significant relationship with restorative effect. Additionally, an eye-tracking method was found to be a valid and useful tool for studying the restorative environments by significant differences in the scan path length depending on the four types of landscape images. This study ultimately provides an overview regarding restorative design guidelines not only by using natural elements but also by considering landscape composition in terms of complexity, openness, and so on.

The anti-tourist attitude of residents at destinations experiencing overtourism is a global issue. This study examines why such attitudes form through the lens of community-based tourism, based on Gamcheon Culture Village, South Korea. A qualitative approach, including in-depth interviews and observation, is employed, and statistical and geographical analyses are included. The results show that there has been exclusion of ordinary residents, unfair distribution, disregard of diversity, and no control on negative impacts throughout the tourism development. Overtourism is not merely an issue of overcrowding, but a long-term issue resulting from inappropriate treatment of residents in the process of tourism development.

As the necessity for safety and aesthetic of nightscape have arisen, the importance of nightscapes (i.e., nighttime landscape) planning has garnered the attention of mainstream consciousness. Therefore, this study was to suggest the guideline for nightscape planning using electroencephalography (EEG) technology and survey for recognizing the characteristics of a nightscape. Furthermore, we verified the electroencephalography (EEG) method as a tool for landscape evaluation. Therefore, this study analyzed the change of relative alpha wave and relative beta wave and perceived fear of participants depending on twelve nightscape settings (four types of settings: Built nightscape images group with an adult; Built nightscape images groups without an adult; Nature-dominant nightscape images with an adult; and Nature-dominant nightscape images without an adult). Our findings indicate that the most fearful nightscape setting was recorded in Built nightscape images groups without an adult figure in perceived fear result depending on four types of nightscape settings. In Nature-dominant nightscape images, on the other hand, the nightscape setting with an adult figure was more fearful than the setting without an adult. The interaction effect between landscape type (built and nature-dominant) and adult presence towards perceived fear was verified and it showed that the image with adult affects landscape type. For electroencephalography (EEG) results, several brain activities in the relative alpha and beta wave showed significant differences depending on nightscape settings, which situates electroencephalography (EEG) as an invaluable tool for evaluating landscapes. Based on our physiological electroencephalography (EEG) experiment, we provide a new analytic view of the nightscape. The approach we utilized enables a deeper understanding of emotional perception and fear among human subjects by identifying the physical environment which impacts how they experience nightscapes.

Resident participation is crucial to the success of tourism development at community-level destinations. This study examines the effect of residents’ participation on their support for tourism development at the community level through a case study of Gamcheon Culture Village, South Korea. Using the structural equation model (SEM), including the variables of participation of tourism development, community attachment, economic dependence, perceived positive impacts, perceived negative impacts, and attitude toward tourism development, this study found that participation in tourism development significantly influences residents’ attitude toward development. Residents’ participation not only directly affects their attitude toward tourism development, but also indirectly influences it by increasing their positive perception of tourism development. Results empirically reveal that resident participation is critical to tourism development, especially for destinations at the local level.

Urban areas play a crucial role in carbon absorption, while also producing a considerable amount of carbon emissions. However, there has been a lack of research that has systematically examined the carbon storage and sequestration in green spaces located within urban environments, at a spatial scale. This study analyzes carbon storage and sequestration in Yurim Park, Daejeon, South Korea on a grid basis to fill the research gap. The research compares the variation in sequestration capacity across different grids and provides insights into the development of sustainable urban parks in urban planning. The classification of grids is based on specific site characteristics, such as land cover, tree distribution, type, and density. This results in a total of seven distinct types. The study employs a combination of the I-tree eco model, drone-based modeling, and on-site surveys to estimate carbon storage and sequestration in urban parks. The results show that the average carbon storage per unit area in the entire park was 15.3 tons of carbon per hectare, ranging from a minimum of 5.0 to a maximum of 21.4 tons per hectare. For the planted area, the average carbon storage was 8.6 tons per hectare. Grids with green areas dominated by broad-leaved trees and closed canopy cover had the highest carbon sequestration and storage values. The planting area ratio and the type of trees planted were found to directly influence the carbon sequestration capacity per unit area of urban parks. This study stands out from previous research by conducting a detailed area-based comparison and analysis of carbon sequestration capacity in urban parks using sophisticated measurement techniques. The findings offer direct insights into strategies and policies for securing future urban carbon sinks and can be of practical use in this regard.

The aim of this study was to determine the characteristics of forest wetlands by developing factors for site suitability and applying these factors to 107 sites in South Korea. We developed a forest wetland assessment in a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) environment to assess site suitability. We considered 16 factors including slope, elevation, visibility, land ownership, distance to city, and so on. We conducted an expert survey with experts to analyze the relative importance by using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). We found that the order of importance of the 5 criteria applied in this study was: (1) Natural Ecology, (2) Land Use, (3) Natural Landscape, (4) Tourist Attraction, and (5) Accessibility. We then analyzed the spatial characteristics of each site based on the AHP result and divided the 107 forest wetlands into three categories by cluster analysis. Sites with high scores on the assessment were primarily the landscape ecology or land use criterion. Our differentiation of these forest wetland characteristics could help enable policymakers to develop sustainable management with the aim of balancing conservation with utilization in ecotourism destinations.